Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
The Leaf is Sacred!
From USA Today, under the headline Coca-Cola should drop the 'coca,' Bolivia growers say:
A commission of coca industry representatives advising an assembly rewriting Bolivia's constitution passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the Atlanta, Ga.-based company to take "Coca" out of its name and asking the United Nations to decriminalize the leaf.
The resolution demands that "international companies that include in their commercial name the name of coca (example: Coca Cola) refrain from using the name of the sacred leaf in their products."
The commission, which met for three days in Sucre, 255 miles southeast of La Paz, is part of an effort led by President Evo Morales to rehabilitate the image of plant, used in the Andes for millennia but better known internationally as the base ingredient of cocaine.
Yup, it's not just the monotheists who are nuts.
Jim Downey
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Legalize ALL of it
Not to mention that we could cut the funding out from under Al Quaeda if we simply legalized all of it. ALL of it. Marijuana, cocaine, opium, Ecstasy, the whole nine yards. Legalize it, tax it, regulate it, sell it at Wal-Mart. Sell it at Safeway. We could save millions on law enforcement efforts. Of course, we'd have to do SOMETHING about the economy in Afghanistan which literally has no other cash crop; ditto much of Colombia. I've written several blog posts on this from time to time.
Coca Cola
...was originally marketed as a patent medicine, and like many such medicines at the time, contained cocaine.
[Link]
- No More Mr. Nice Guy!
Don't see why this is a problem
Coca is a plant that lessens the appitite, and it is sacred in some cultures. FYI, calling a plant sacred can mean everything from the plant having magical properties (like Oak and mystletoe) to it having medicinal ones (like that stuff that cures malaria).
What? So you'll reassure the Christians that you're not trying to take away Christmas or make it illegal to pray, but you scoff at letting another religion have its sacred leaves? Sometimes I think you ex-Christians are still too attached to your former religion.
Yes, they're going overboard when it comes to asking companies to remove any mention of Coca from unrelated products. This starts getting into my view that you shouldn't be able copywright something if you don't intend to develope it.
Um, no.
Um, no. I scoff at the Christians about their "Christ is the meaning of the season" silliness, too. I'm an equal-opportunity hater in this regard. ;)
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
oh right
Mixed you up with someone else. Sorry about that.
Stopping the oppressive Drug War is not nuts!
Pat Offender is right. Moreover, I thought we supported freedom of religion and personal choice here, no matter how insane, or drug using it is. Sorry Jim Downey, but you really ran off the rails with this one.
I'm not sure...
...how you got from my post that I am in favor of the 'Oppressive Drug War' or against people using the drugs of their choice. My commentary was directed at the language used in that news report that the coca leaf was "sacred". Calling a leaf "sacred", or arguing that you worship it, is right up there with saying that there's a God, in my opinion. It's just silly.
Point in fact, I take a fairly libertarian view of drug use, and would argue - have argued here - that our War on (some) Drugs is a huge threat to our civil liberties, and has perverted our law enforcement priorities in a grotesque manner.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
"...how you got from my post..."
It was easy. Your only comment to the entire quote was, "Yup, it's not just the monotheists who are nuts." I can only take that at face value that you found everything in the quote "nuts". Perhaps the clarification you gave in this reply would have been useful in the original post. As you can see, I'm not the only one who misunderstood your intent.
The Mouse That Roared
Was it Peter Sellers? I remember the movie in the title above and this situation reminds me of that... exactly. As is usual, religion is used as cover for some hidden monetary or power gain to someone. And people wonder why we're skeptical? I guess if I am Coca Cola, I can be certain that the world has been bought a Coke.
Imagine: a bunch of leaf pickers, poor, sick of their back-breaking labor which results in feeding a habit and lining a pocket of someone who is not you (although they do give them coca leaves to chew on so they can pay you less since you won't have to eat so much. They're walking back to their hut one evening and after a bottle or 5 de cervezas they get to planning a way out...
Ethiopia is in a fight with Starbuck's over the name of a coffee (something that, now, indirectly impacts my work); now Bolivia wants to pick a fight with Coca Cola; who's next?
"You better start giving me some inner peace before I mop the floor with you." - Homer S.
or
"Pinky, you excel at random." - the Brain
Coke
The criminalization of naturally-occurring medicinal substances is a quaint artifact from our Industrial Era. Much like state-sponsored religions and corporate trusts, it is time to tear these embarrasing vestiges from our misguided past down once and for all.